Fri 19th February 2021 Current Affairs

 Editorial Sun Feb 7^th 2021

 

On Friday, at work in the adjacent suburb of Hallam, a lightning storm resulted in power going down across Hallam. Children at the tutorial centre at 8pm were forced to work from fading daylight across summer of Melbourne. Lights returned fifteen minutes later. Work was done and children got a new appreciation of Zeus. When I got back home, I found the internet was down from wifi, but I had phone data operative. I searched for internet failure and found nothing. I waited until next morning, and found a report of NBN failure the night before. I went to work in the morning. At work I was called by my estate agent who had tried to reset the modem in the share accommodation, without success. I told them of the NBN outage report, with the news that the anticipated recovery was on Monday at 6pm, the fourth day from the failure. 

I went home and checked the internet again. Still down, I checked the outage reports, and there were none. Not even at my address. Clearly, the estate agent had not got the landlord to raise the issue with the ISP. There is no reason to believe the internet will be restored on even the fourth day if no one is looking at the issue. 

What has caused this outage? Internet gets slow whenever there is a thunderstorm. I live in Dandenong, a suburb of Melbourne. There is no excuse for such poor service. 

 

Editorial Thursday 11^th February 2021

Having reported the outage to my landlord’s agent, I queried them as to why no fault was reported on the address a day later, two days later, three days later and four days later. The estate agent raised their voice to me “It is not my job to sit by a phone for a telecommunications company hours on end. I’ve alerted the landlord.” 

 

“Yes, but the telecommunications company needs to know there is a fault or they cannot address it.”

 

“I take your point but I have told you I have alerted the landlord.”

 

“Have you advised them to report the fault?”

 

“They said they will fix it. If they haven’t fixed by the end of working day tomorrow I will see to it. Have a good day, sir”

 

It wasn’t working on day five, but another member of the share household found mail addressed to the landlord from the telecommunications company and opened it. It said that the company was sending a final warning before cancellation. The company was forced to close their cable service and link to NBN instead. The cancellation was to take place on the 15^th February, ten days after they in fact cancelled it. Had the company been called when the ‘fault’ was detected, the problem could have been addressed immediately. The agent has still not apologised to me. Neither is the internet connected after seven days. 

 

My oldest sister sent me a near fifty year old school photo of me. I told her that I had lost all my photos when FB booted me. I have no place for such memories, but I’m thankful she thought of me. I had been booted from FB after Jan 6^th for not being a good citizen, as I endorsed Donald Trump for President. I am not uncivilised  and never condone violence or racism, but FB booted me. My sister, a left wing loony, said I should go somewhere else where I’m accepted. She suggested I use the library to access the internet. She was taunting me. That is how they behave.

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Here is a video I made The End of Despair

A game of Chess against Death. I wanted to show the chess boards when I originally posted the sounds ..

http://oddballsstories.blogspot.com/2007/12/end-of-despair-chess-vs-death.html

I was raised as an Atheist. I learned, after reading the Bible, that God loves me, and you. This is his song for you too. He loves you, and wants to be with you.
All the elements are me and mine. ARIA ISRC number AUAWN1211128

The moves ..
1. B4 D5
2. C3 A4 mate.
I showed this to a student once, prior to a competition, and he won. He kept saying "You showed me the moves" and I was saying I was nowhere near him during his match ..

This was ad libbed in real time circa '05. One take. One actor .. me
https://rumble.com/valoid-end-of-despair-old.html

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=== From 2018 ===

Don't give up on hope. Andrew Bolt has denounced Barnaby Joyce, but now writes it is fifty fifty if Joyce or Turnbull gets booted from leadership. Joyce is an effective minister who attracts support from conservative voters. Turnbull has a track record of weakening the Liberal vote in all states and territories since 2007. In 2007, Turnbull undermined the Howard government and got Rudd elected. Then Gillard. He tried to prevent Abbott's election, but failed. Turnbull has been successful in getting his own bedwetters in place in states, making them hard to elect. Victoria is blessed with Guy and Kroger. NSW has done well despite corrupt judiciary claiming Liberal leaders and parliamentarians. NSW looked like they had a plan in the face of a corrupt public service and used a revolving door leadership to prevent the public service from poisoning the well. But the backstabbing of Turnbull and Photios has paralysed them in a fight over culture wars. NSW will lose their Liberal government eventually, and the culture wars not being fought means a terribly compromised ALP will gain reigns of power without fetters of a balanced public service or competent judiciary. Andrew Bolt knows Joyce is competent and Turnbull is not, so why is it 50-50? 

=== from 2017 ===

Words have authority and yet don't mean what people say. This struck home for me, recently when I overheard some children talking. One was an 8 yo boy who kept interacting with the world, wanting to win and boasting of his achievements (I've got 8 lives! I've got 10 lives! I'm a cat! Nobody else can beat me) A nine year old girl was talking to a friend. A boy had told another of her friends that he liked her, he always thought about her and he wanted to rape her. Children are not guarded. They say what they think, but not in sophisticated ways. They don't mean the same things adults mean when they say things. Strictly speaking, I don't have rape fantasies so I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the nine year old boy is only repeating what he has heard elsewhere. But while the boy has a throw away line he would probably not remember fifteen minutes after saying it, the girl, who got it second hand is unlikely to forget it. Every human being craves friendship, shared experience, laughter and that killer line from that boy is an exact opposite. If that boy said that, as he may be a victim of girl bullying. 

There are reasons why some adults talk differently around children. There are reasons why there are restrictions to viewing for children. Children have a brilliant way of copying what they hear and see without always understanding it. Some adults have a perverse desire to break those boundaries for children. And other adults are merely intemperate with their language, throwing around words without a care for their meaning. As evidenced by a journalist on Fox who, upon hearing another journalist say that left wing journalists had been intemperate in their language regarding President Trump, denounced the female journalist for touching him while saying that. Perhaps the female journalist was trying to let him know she wasn't classifying him with others. Or maybe she just wanted to rape him on national tv. 

I am reading a research article by Matthew C. MacWilliams , University of Massachusetts Amherst, a PhD student. The article was popular among #FakeNewsMedia. Matthew writes "Before presenting data that demonstrates the important role authoritarians played in Trump’s ascendancy, I begin with a brief overview of authoritarian theory: defining what authoritarianism is and how it is measured, detailing how it is activated, and describing Hetherington and Weiler’s authoritarian partisan polarization hypothesis. Building from this theoretical base, I offer two hypotheses that together explain Trump’s rise. Then, I discuss the source of my data and what it says about authoritarianism, fear and threat, and the dominance of Donald Trump during America’s authoritarian spring. Trump’s strongman manner and message is not a unique development in contemporary American politics, but his success, in the face of uniform and dogged opposition from party elites, certainly is. " Would Matthew characterise Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in similar terms? Matthew presents his evidence later, but note, had the opposition to Trump been any less, one might have thought the GOP primaries were as fixed as Democrat ones. Instead, all evidence today points to the GOP process being free and fair. 

=== from 2016 ===

Not written as I was working to secure accommodation. 

=== from 2015 ===

The technicality which has David Hicks declared as not being a terrorist by a court martial in Cuba does not obscure the fact that Hicks trained with Al Qaeda, Met Osama Bin Ladin and called him 'brother,' hates Jews and was armed to fight US soldiers in Afghanistan. David has claimed to forget much, and so will never explain his choices. In all likelihood, under modern law, in Australia, Hicks would be found to have been a terrorist. However, when Hicks went on his 'holiday' as a tourist trained to be a terrorist the legal issues were not so well defined. The extraordinary cases of death tourism which are part of jihadism were not anticipated by law makers. Shorten has said he wants Hicks retried. One suspects Shorten wants Hicks tried under laws which weren't designed to address what he has done. Headline has porn star Sasha Grey 'hitting back' at Russian propaganda saying she had been killed acting as a nurse in Ukraine. Clearly she hasn't been nailed in her nurse outfit on this occasion. And the odds are as likely that the propagandists are Washington's acting for Ukraine, as they might be Russian. 

The bloodiest battle in Roman history began on this day in 197. Severus wanted to be a memorable emperor, and wanted his son as co ruler. Albinus wanted to be emperor and wanted to live. Albinus lost the two day battle which was said to involve 300,000 troops, but probably only half that number. Severus became the last emperor to form a dynasty until the third century crisis. In 356, Constantius II issued a decree closing all pagan temples in the Roman Empire. He was a kind of Christian. He also passed a law barring anyone from buying a Christian prostitute, except another Christian. Clearly he 'understood.'  In 1674, New Amsterdam became New York City. In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for Treason. Burr had some get rich quick schemes. They failed. He was acquitted, fled to Europe for a few years, and returned to NYC to serve out his life time as an obscure lawyer. In 1847, the first group of rescuers reached the Donner Party. They had headed West in 1846 for California along a new route. It should have taken six months, but took some two years and some of the party had resorted to cannibalism. It was another few more years before the '49ers found gold. In 1859, Daniel Sickles, a Tamany Hall Democrat was acquitted of killing a district attorney (who happened to be Francis Scott Key's son) on the grounds Key was having an affair with Sickles' young wife. Seven years earlier, 33 yo Sickles had married the 15 yo who spoke five languages. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity. The first time such a defence had been successfully laid. In 1878, Thomas Edison patented the Phonograph. And the world kept turning. In 1942, 250 Japanese planes attacked Darwin. 

From 2014

A momentous day, where former ALP parliamentary member and union leader Craig Thomson has been convicted of misusing union funds for whore-ing and inappropriate personal use. Apparently it was felt that his use of a union credit card to access porn in hotels was ok by members. That is how they expect their union dues to be spent. Also today, Peter Slipper's case is being heard. Queen Mary 2 docks in Sydney, as a powerful electrical storm approaches. Flannery said it would never rain again. It wasn't the only thing he got wrong. 

Today is a momentous day. Copernicus, Merle Oberon, Lee Marvin, Smokey Robinson, Seal and Lisa McCune were born on this day, providing eternal entertainment value to the reality challenged Sarah Hanson-Young. Edison patented the phonograph, allowing us to hear again Thomson's heartfelt protestations of innocence before parliament, which we now know were lies. It is the day Democrat FDR signed executive order 9066 so that anyone identified as Japanese was placed in a camp regardless of virtue. And the day GOP President Ford rescinded that executive order. A day of justice. Give thanks to someone born on this day.

Historical perspective on this day

In 197, Emperor Septimius Severus defeated usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. 356, emperor Constantius II issued a decree closing all pagan temples in the Roman Empire.1594, having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland in 1587, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa was crowned Kingof Sweden, having succeeded his father John III of Sweden in 1592. 1600, the Peruvian stratovolcanoHuaynaputina exploded in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America. 1649, the Second Battle of Guararapes took place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil. 1674, England and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, and it was renamed New York.

in 1807, former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr was arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama and confined to Fort Stoddert. 1819, British explorer William Smithdiscovered the South Shetland Islands, and claimed them in the name of King George III.1846, in Austin, Texas the newly formed Texas state government was officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transferred power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States.1847, the first group of rescuers reached the Donner Party. 1859, Daniel E. Sickles, a New York Congressman, was acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity. This was the first time this defence was successfully used in the United States. 1861, Serfdom was abolished in Russia.1876, founding of the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) in Philadelphia. 1878,  Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.1884, more than sixty tornadoes struck the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

In 1915, World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles began when a strong Anglo-French task force bombarded Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.1937, Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Ethiopian nationalists of Eritrean origin attempted to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.1942, World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese war-planes attacked the northern Australian city of Darwin killing 243 people. Also 1942, World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps. 1943, World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia began. 1945, World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima – about 30,000 United States Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima. 1948, the Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convened in Calcutta. 1949, Ezra Pound was awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundationand Yale University.

In 1953, Censorship: Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the United States. 1959, the United Kingdom granted Cyprus independence, which was then formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960. 1960, China successfully launched the T-7, its first sounding rocket.1963, the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakened the Feminist Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raisinggroups spread. 1965, Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm attempted a coup against the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh. 1972, the Asama-Sansō hostage standoff began in Japan. 1976, Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, was rescinded by President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4417 1978, Egyptian forces raided Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprusauthorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces killed 15 Egyptian commandos and destroyed the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.

In 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave hospital. Also 1985, Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 crashed into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148.Also 1985, EastEnders BBC's flagship soap opera broadcast for the first time. 1986, Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacred 80 Tamil farm workers the eastern province of Sri Lanka. 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing museum was dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. 2002, NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe began to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system. 2003, an Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashed near Kerman, Iran, killing 275. 2006, a methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, killed 65 miners. 2011, the debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang Dynasty artefacts found in one location, began in Singapore. 2012, 44 people were killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León.

=== Bible Reading ===

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Today's reading: Leviticus 23-24, Mark 1:1-22 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Leviticus 23-24

¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

The Sabbath

³ "'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 1:1-22

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹ The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, ² as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"--
³ "a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'"

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

=== Morning and Evening ===

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February 18: Morning

"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." - Job 10:2

Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star--not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of his children's graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, "Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith." Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?--for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains his soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why he is contending with you?

"Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to his feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there."

Evening

"Father, I have sinned." - Luke 15:18

It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in his precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has forever taken away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their iniquity in that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe the same duty to our heavenly Father. We daily offend, and ought not to rest without daily pardon. For, supposing that my trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to him to be washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus, what will be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been washed from these offences against my Father, I shall feel at a distance from him; I shall doubt his love to me; I shall tremble at him; I shall be afraid to pray to him: I shall grow like the prodigal, who, although still a child, was yet far off from his father. But if, with a child's sorrow at offending so gracious and loving a Parent, I go to him and tell him all, and rest not till I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love to my Father, and shall go through my Christian career, not only as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus Christ my Lord. There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child. The Father's bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.

=== Bible Quote ===

=== Message ===

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I am a decent man and don't care for the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.

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I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.

Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?

January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc (Gofundme finished the fund raiser, 2017)

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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4 The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.

The Amazon Author Page for David Ball

UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWG

French .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG

Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG

German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG

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Other Stuff

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I'm now on MAGAbook to sidestep FB censorship

https://www.magabook.com/register?invite=11673951025fadd3f055eca4.00045664

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I'm looking for former students to endorse me

https://www.superprof.com.au/write-recommendation-13371374-1cc2cf0f56166c9b04ad4097fc7d0b67.html

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